Letter: Loud mufflers are illegal, bad for our health

Editor: According to Florida Statute 316.293, “No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle or any other noise-abatement device of a motor vehicle operated or to be operated upon the highways of this state in such a manner that the noise emitted by the motor vehicle is above that emitted by the vehicle as originally manufactured.”

In other words, it is illegal to make your vehicle louder than the way it came out of the factory. Yet an increasing number of muscle car, pickup truck and motorcycle owners in Northeast Florida, in collusion with the aftermarket manufacturers of “performance” mufflers and their retail sales outlets, are flouting the law with impunity. This has to stop.

Recent studies have suggested that the kind of noise associated with loud vehicle exhaust can contribute to anxiety, loss of sleep, hypertension, heart disease, stress and even shortened life spans. For example, the World Health Organization estimates that about 1 million years of healthy living are lost every year in Western Europe because of noise pollution. Could the same thing be happening to our citizens on King Street or Race Track Road or any number of residential areas in our county?

Of course, the offenders surely do not intend to be malicious. They are simply not empathetic and aware of the damage they are doing. They may even believe, incorrectly, that they have an individual constitutional right to a loud muffler. These people will not change their behavior until it affects their wallets. And that’s where law enforcement comes in.

I encourage St. Johns County citizens who care about a better quality of life to urge local police to vigorously enforce Florida’s noise abatement equipment modifications law.

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Loud mufflers are about machismo. In order for loud mufflers to have any impact on unsuspecting automobile drivers they would have to point forward. And even then, the human instinct is to rely on sight not sound. That's why 42% of all motorcycle fatalities involve a vehicle turning left while the motorcycle was going straight -- the vehicles' drivers never saw the motorcycle until it was too late. As a rule, automobile drivers simply don't look for nor do they see motorcyclists. According to the US DOT, there was a 63% increase in motorcycle registrations between 1997 and 2005 yet motorcycle deaths more than doubled over the same period. And a little less than half of all motorcycle fatalities involve no vehicle at all! No wonder the proliferation of loud pipes hasn't seemed to help.

I have no doubt that some of the people who tell you that they ride with loud pipes do it because it makes them "feel" safer really feel that way. That doesn't mean that loud pipes really do increase safety. Besides apparently being technically illegal in Florida (but not enforced), all loud pipes do is antagonize the general public while taking the focus off real motorcycle safety. Real motorcycle safety involves always assuming that nobody else sees you or is even looking for you. If you have been riding for any period of time you either already know this or you soon will. BTW, if you can point me to any peer-reviewed study showing that loud pipes really do decrease accidents and fatalities I'd appreciate it.